Looked for a church hothead in Genesis (8)
I believe the answer is:
searched
'looked for' is the definition.
('search' can be a synonym of 'look for')
'a church hothead in genesis' is the wordplay.
'church' becomes 'rc' (abbreviation for Roman Catholic).
'hothead' becomes 'h' (head letter of 'hot').
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'genesis' becomes 'seed' (seed is a kind of genesis).
'a'+'rc'+'h'='arch'
'arch' inserted inside 'seed' is 'SEARCHED'.
(Other definitions for searched that I've seen before include "Sought to find" , "Tried to locate" , "Sought, looked through" , "Sought, scoured" , "Spent time trying to find" .)